Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens

Same great voice just way older">

After the flood

After the flood and while trying to decide on the new carpet for the bedrooms, Tom suggested replacing the carpet in the family room, living/dining room with wood. So after several months of thinking and looking at different samples, we finally had the wood flooring installed. Here are the pictures of the new floor. We finally decided on American Walnut engineered hardwood that is hand scraped and natural wood as opposed to stained. I think we made a great choice but I must be getting old if I get excited by flooring.

Making the rounds

I'm not a fan of American Idol or its counterpart across the ocean (which I think was the original American Idol) but this video is making the rounds and the woman is really amazing. Take a time out and watch it. And see how her popularity has spread by clicking this article

My new old sewing room

It's back in working order. Most everything is the same except for a few little changes:

The new bookshelf from Ikea with all my sewing, dog and photograhy books

The newly organized closet complete with lots of plastic storage bins.




Plenty of storage space for notions and threads in these handy DMC drawers from an out-of-business fabric store and my newly framed Andrew Wyeth drawing.



The computer work station with the new printer sent to me for free by HP when my old printer died.



The quilting work station.




The embroidery station complete with sleeping dog.



The cutting station.

"I hope I die before I get old"

Not really but it's hell getting old and I wonder how old Pete Townsend was when he wrote that line to the song.

Having just turned 50 a couple of months ago (and still not able to believe it), I have just suffered what I believe to be my first physical defect due to age. My right shoulder has hurt quite a bit for the past five months and has really, really hurt for the last three weeks. My primary care doc thought it was tendonitis but referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon for a consult and a steroid shot. Got the steroid shot but according to the ortho doc, it has gone beyond tendonitis and is a rotator cuff injury and possible tear. So next week, I have to get an MRI of the shoulder to see what's what.

The steroid shot is helping but there is still pain.

I thought it was just athletes who suffered this kind of injury but no, it's us old people.

Rats.

Sewing room

The sewing room is almost back to normal. Just need to hang some pictures back up and hope to take some pictures when there is some decent lighting in the room, i.e. during the day and when I am not at work so probably not until the weekend.

After the flood, it was pretty much unusable for two months but now the carpet is in and Tom bought a whole bunch of plastic storage bins for the closet. We spent the weekend putting a bookshelf for the sewing room (all my sewing, dog and photograhy books desperately needed a place)
and CD racks together that were purchased from Ikea and also hanging pictures throughout the house.

But back to the sewing room; now that it is back to normal and looking really good and user friendly, I'm trying to restir the creative juices and get some things made for Etsy and the Holiday Boutique at work. Did I mention, I made a sale on Etsy that was not a friend, relative or a commission? Yup, some lady in NJ bought my chickens and roosters table topper. That was a good thing and now I want to generate more inventory

Neighbors

Here are two houses I pass by on my walk with the dogs. The first house is so well cared for and so pretty with all the flowers and the way it's painted. The word for it would be "charming". But right next door is a house that is in pretty bad condition and it's over run by cats. I don't think the people spay or neuter them because there are always a ton of cats running around. Plus, the smell of cat urine just reeks from it. The two houses are right next door to each other.